25
Rapture Welcome Center
"You'll have to forgive me if I'm not exactly standing on my toes to see you…" Jack brushed his front off, pulling a few shards of the wooden desk out of his sweater. There was a fist-sized hole in the upper right part of the sweater. He assumed that, if the twins were right, as they usually were, that was from the large piece of desk that had punctured his lung.
"Some aspect of that is understandable…" Rosalind agreed from beside her brother.
Jack faced them. "And you two brought me here?" They nodded in confirmation. Jack huffed. "Are you ever going to tell me how you do that? Jump from place to place like that, I mean?"
"Probably not." Robert answered bluntly. After that, they fell silent, watching Jack as he moved around and inspected the area.
A bathysphere was bobbing with quiet creaks in one of the bathysphere docks. The dock was already halfway open. Jack peered into the craft, and saw the mailbag he had been using.
"You guys really are resourceful…" Jack called over his shoulder as he picked the bag up. Rifling through it, he found that all of his items were still there, including his weapons. He stuck the pistol in the waistband of his pants, and palmed the wrench. Knowing it was pointless to ask how they got it, he slipped the mailbag on his back like a knapsack and faced the twins again, satisfied.
They were both still there, surprisingly. "She's in Persephone." Robert answered the unasked question. "She didn't leave all too long ago, either."
"Good. Then I can still catch up with her…" Jack nodded to the twins as a thank you.
As Jack climbed into the bathysphere, he heard Rosalind mutter something just loud enough for Jack to hear.
"You can certainly try…"
Persephone
Jack popped his head out of the bathysphere to carefully check his surroundings. After his run-in with Wayne Coleman, he had the right to worry that there could be an ambush waiting for him on the other side of the bathysphere hatch every time he docked. And, even though there wasn't a single soul in the bathysphere station, short of Jack, he still was very attentive to his surroundings. The words 'being too careful' and 'the city of Rapture' were something Jack found just didn't go together.
On the bathysphere ride over, Jack cultivated two ideas as to why Sapphire would possibly need to be in Persephone. The first was that Sapphire intended to try and get Jack killed on a wild goose chase. The second was that Sapphire was looking for help from someone like Sophia Lamb or… what was the name of the man who contacted Jack and Holly? Augustus? Augustus Sinclair?
Well, it didn't much matter. Either way, Jack would find her before she could off him.
After a while of cautious walking, he found his way into something called Ryan Amusements. This was another part of the city he simply didn't know existed, and sincerely wished he hadn't found. It seemed to Jack that every time he found a new part of the city he had to compromise some part of his plans.
In all honesty, Jack had been lost when he found his way into the 'amusement' park. He had been spotted by an aggressive Splicer, and, to get away, he ducked into the horrifying theme park. What he found were terrifying mannequins with warbled dialogue being fed through out-of-shape speakers to offset the creepy, robotic movements. There were all sorts of these mannequins, too, though most of them were Andrew Ryans that, when their buttons were pressed, let out a monotonous speech about the surface world, and just how absolutely swell Rapture was in comparison. It was the same old song and dance as the real Andrew Ryan.
There was even one exhibit where a giant hand reached out of a dark hallway and dragged a small child into the shadows. Apparently, it was Andrew Ryan's 'fun and captivating' way to warn the children of Rapture of the terrifying truth that is life on the surface. Andrew Ryan called the ride The Journey to the Surface. Jack had a feeling this 'attraction' wasn't well-received when folks were still able to think for themselves.
Jack reached the end of The Journey to the Surface, frowning at the very last exhibit he was greeted with. It was a scaled down model of the Rapture lighthouse, erected near the back of the exhibit. A little bit closer to the front of the exhibit was a small bathysphere, half-submerged in the thin layer of water. The faces of pleasantly surprised mannequins showed through one of the windows of the bathysphere. When Jack pressed the exhibit's button, Rapture's anthem played from the surrounding speakers. It was a very eerie and lonely sight.
Feeling angry from the exhibit, Jack left The Journey to the Surface. He was getting tired of wasting his time in this city. He had to get ahold of Sophia Lamb or Augustus Sinclair to risk asking if they've seen Sapphire. If not, he had every intention of spreading the news that she'd been dethroned. Maybe then he could get some actual help. Either way, he needed to do something before Sapphire caused any more problems… or before Holly found Jack. Whichever was going to happen first.
The floor outside of the exhibit shook, startling Jack. He flinched, looking in the direction of a deep moan. A Big Daddy romped slowly down the corridor. A Little Sister had a hand wrapped around one of the large fingers of the tin man, and was dragging him forward.
This gave Jack an idea he might normally say was bad.
With the tentativeness of approaching a stray dog, Jack faced the girl that slowed to a stop when she saw Jack. He kneeled so that he was on her level. "Hey, Kitten…" He cooed carefully, making sure his weapon was concealed. Last thing he needed was the girl's protector seeing him so close to the girl with some sort of weapon. "… mind if I ask you to do me a favor?" He tried to make sure his wrists were visible. His hope was that everyone had heard about his tattoos enough for them to be his pass f safety, since he was some sort of God-send in these parts.
The Big Daddy stopped in its tracks. Its huge, domed head stared down at Jack in a cold silence. The lights on its helmet were still yellow, not that that made Jack any more comfortable.
The Little Sister wasn't comfortable, either. She had moved behind her protector, and was peeking out from around the thick leg she hid behind. She was watching Jack suspiciously.
"It's alright," Jack tried to reassure quickly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know if you can get to Sophia Lamb."
The girl let out a small squeal, prompting Jack to get to his feet quickly. He took a few steps back, holding his hands out defensively. The Big Daddy groaned loudly, immediately moving on, the Little Sister following along quickly.
That was strange. Usually the very sight of the tattoos on Jack's wrists were enough to reassure anything in Rapture that he really was who he said he was.
"Well, I thought we'd seen the last of you…"
Jack felt a conflicted feeling of relief and fear. The voice he heard was Sophia Lamb's, being played over the speakers of the room he stood in. He took a step away from the Big Daddy as it passed by, glancing around the room.
"Yeah, I thought you had, too."
"And your girl?"
"That's what I came to talk to you about."
Lamb paused. Jack couldn't tell if she was thinking or just bracing herself. "Do you think it's very wise to get to me through a child?"
"Well, I got to you, didn't I?"
"What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"
"The girl I was travelling with was supposed to take me to Sapphire." Jack could feel Sophia Lamb watching him, however she went about doing that. "Well, we got there. But now she's the problem. She's taken up Sapphire's job. Have you seen Sapphire?"
"Why do you need her?" There was no hiding the suspicion in Lamb's voice. If there was even an iota of trust in that woman, Jack couldn't sense it.
"There are a few reasons, to be honest. All you need to know is that I have a job to do, and that job is taking out Sapphire."
Another silence. This time, Jack could tell that Lamb was definitely mulling over her own words. When she spoke, she sounded very pleased with herself. "I never trusted you. You're no more a messiah than I am a fish in the sea. And now I have an excuse to rid Rapture of you."
"What are you talking about, lady?"
"Father Wales was crushed when he found out you weren't his messiah…"
"What did you say to him?"
"I didn't say anything. Ingrid Sapphire, on the other hand, swung by to plead her case with Father Wales. She held a very convincing argument… And she won. Father Wales no longer believes you're his messiah. I can't say I'm disappointed."
Jack bristled with anger. "Why didn't you stop her? She was right where you could get her, and you just let her go?!"
"She has suddenly become more useful to me alive than dead."
Jack let out an incredulous huff of anger, running his fingers through his hair. "You are a very stupid woman…" He hissed through his teeth, starting to pace slightly on the spot.
"And you are a reckless, lying, violent little man." Sophia Lamb purred. "I'll be glad to help you kill Ingrid Sapphire once I've killed you."
At that, Jack started out of the room. He was going to get the hell out of dodge before Sophia Lamb could get her way. Then he would track down Sapphire… She couldn't have gone very far. Hopefully she wasn't in Lamb's territory anymore.
"I hope you're not planning on leaving…" Lamb continued through the speakers. "Father Wales wants to send you a gift."
"You know where you can tell him to stick it…" Jack muttered under his breath.
At the end of the hallway that Jack was rushing down, a Pneumo Tube's light flickered on. The sound of something heavy clunking against its insides gave Jack a brief feeling of hope. He stopped by it and wasted no time yanking the hatch open. Sophia Lamb started rambling on about something else, but Jack was more interested in the things that had been gifted to him.
In his hands, he held a service radio. And he was never gladder to hear another person speaking to him through it.
"Long time, no see, sport!" Augustus Sinclair beamed through the radio.
"Sinclair, am I ever glad to hear from you." Jack, though relieved, was not overly keen in the chit-chat. "Sapphire got to Father Wales. I'm in a bit of a tight spot."
"I know, I heard. You've been denounced as the messiah." Sinclair chuckled grimly before clearing his throat. "Alright, here's what we've gotta do: Father Wales lost his faith in you. We just gotta inculcate that faith into him once more."
"And how do plan to do that, exactly?" Jack asked in disbelief, feeling his stomach drop. He had a feeling he already knew the answer.
"Well, the exact same way we did before. Talking to him ain't exactly the wisest option, right now. He more or less wants you dead, and getting on that man's bad side is already sentencing you to death." Something on Sinclair's end dropped loudly, and he grunted with the effort of it. "Check the next few Pneumos you run across, sport. What you have alone won't get you very far."
"Thanks…" Jack muttered gruffly, stopping near another Pneumo Tube. He was pleased to find a shotgun and more than enough shotgun bucks. The next Pneumo had several EVEs in it.
"No problem, sport. Any enemy of my enemy is my friend." Sinclair sniffed absentmindedly. "How brave are you feelin'?"
"Why?"
"If you can hold your ground well enough, there's a showroom called the Hall of the Future that you can hole up in. Wales' people will have only one way to get to you. It's a bit out of your way, but it's probably a safer place to pick a fight."
Jack climbed a flight of stairs quickly. "And the other option?"
"Well, stick around and find out."
Jack might have laughed if he wasn't practically running for his life. "Alright, Hall of the Future it is…"
"Sounds like plan."
The Ryan clipped the service radio to his belt and took off running, following the signs that led to the Hall of the Future, leaping over debris as he ran across it. He saw the bright, blue neon sign that led to the wing he was searching for. He eagerly vaulted over the red seats near the entrance, practically slipping and falling face-first into a puddle of what looked like oil. He cursed under his breath before slip-sliding his way into the Hall of the Future.
"Alright…" Jack breathed, slowing down as he passed through a doorway guarded by two very large statues of Gatherer's Garden Little Sisters. He pulled out his pistol, making sure it was ready and loaded. "… let's get this over with."
"Now, if things start to go south, I'm sending in some backup. But try to hold your ground for as long as you can. Otherwise, it won't have the same effect on Wales."
"Right." Jack stopped in the center of the entrance in the Hall of the Future. At the end of the large room was a mural that included several iterations of Plasmid-using citizens. A small light being held by a young child in the mural was blinking on and off to try to exaggerate the Electro Bolt Plasmid being used on it by a woman in the painting. "This was an exhibit?" Jack frowned, looking around.
"Used to be. Ryan used it to promote the use of Plasmids, and tried very hard to put a little spit shine on every single Plasmid he could so that it appealed to everyone. Now it's just a place for Splicers to go when they want to be alone or need a fix."
Faint yelling and screaming emanated from the closed doors of the entrance to the Hall of the Future. Jack turned his back to the mural, and Sinclair fell silent.
The doors to the wing opened, and Jack watched a very broken man limp into the Hall of the Future. He wore a preacher's hat, a ratty, makeshift preacher's suit, and a bright blue butterfly pin. His limbs were long and grotesquely spindly. His toes had merged inside his socks and elongated to the point that they were sticking out as only four separate digits per foot. He didn't ascend to little flight of stairs to join Jack in the large room with the mural. He simply stopped, staring at Jack with a melted faced covered in cancerous sores.
There was no doubting about who it was.
"Father," Jack greeted curtly, making no move to attack Wales. He needed this man alive.
"Ye should not have returned." Father Wales growled from his spot. He lifted one arm, pointing a long, thin finger at Jack. "Pretender! Repent thyself, and accept the punishment the flock has prepared for ye."
"I don't know what Sapphire said to you, Father." Jack knew that Sinclair was right when he said that talking to Wales wouldn't do much good. "But I never pretended to be your messiah. I passed your first test, didn't I? And look at everyone that I… 'smote down'. Andrew Ryan, Frank Fontaine, Wayne Coleman—"
Father Wales scoffed loudly, cutting Jack off. "Yet ye let the False Mother escape with her life." The yelling and screaming was just outside the Hall of the Future. "And ye helped the sinful daughter take her place. And now, Pretender, thou are shriven."
"You can't kill your messiah, Father." Jack shook his head, gripping the pistol in his hand a little tighter. "If I am your messiah, you know I won't go down."
"Aye," A disturbing grin spread across what was left of Father Wales's face. "But ye are no messiah."
"I guess we'll just see about that, then, Father." Jack flexed his hand, letting the Electro Bolt Plasmid flicker brightly through the veins up to his fingers. "Bring in your people. We'll see who's left standing."
Wales' grin faded into what Jack assumed was supposed to be a look of disdain. Father Wales turned and limped out of the Hall of the Future. As the doors opened to let him out, a flood of sound and people came rushing into the wing. All sorts of Splicers spilled into the room, some crawling rapidly across the walls and cieling, most rushing in with battle cries as they ascended the steps that led to Jack.
"This is it, sport!" Jack heard Sinclair manage over the noise through the service radio. "Give it your all!"
Jack took in a deep breath, scanning the crowd that was rushing towards him, and then sprang into action.
Jack slammed shoulder-first into the mural. He cringed out the pain, ducking as a fist slammed into the wall above him. The large brute that was attacking him didn't seemed bothered by the fact that he just drove a fist into the wall. He tried to bring his hand down into the top of Jack's head, but moved just a little too slow.
Jack sprinted around the big guy, raising the shotgun and letting the brute eat two rounds of bucks. He didn't stick around to watch him hit the ground. Another Splicer was shooting at him with a Spider Splicer lunging towards Jack. One of the rusty hooks skimmed Jack, tearing through his sweater and scraping his back.
Reloading the shotgun, Jack whipped around to face the Spider Splicer. He raised the shotgun just as the bloodied Splicer made a move to jump onto Jack. The Splicer caught the buck in the chest and was knocked back. Before it could even stir and try to struggle to its feet, Jack shot it again, putting it out of its misery.
As he did so, Jack heard the Leadhead Splicer on the other side of the room blather crazed insults. It took Jack a moment to realize he'd been shot right through the arm. He hadn't even felt it.
Jack started to dodge to the side of the room, anticipating that the Leadhead would be shooting at him again. But he felt something snag his foot. A big, meaty hand wrapped itself around Jack's ankle.
The brute was somehow still alive and was glaring up at Jack with beady eyes and a blood-covered face. It kept a tight grip, giving Jack a hard time.
Jack aimed the nose of the shotgun at the brute, annoyed that it wasn't letting go of him. But he didn't get a chance to pull the trigger.
Another bullet hit Jack, clipping him in the calf. He yelled out, reaching for his pistol and facing the Leadhead.
To his surprise, several more Splicers had rushed into the room. Another Spider Splicer was scuttling along the ceiling towards Jack, who let out an annoyed hiss and aimed his pistol. With two good shots to the head, the Spider Splicer slumped and started to fall, only to have one hand get stuck in one of its hooks. It dangled there lifelessly as other Splicers trampled into the exhibit with poles and pipes raised.
Jack panicked and tried to shoot down as many as he could, but they kept filtering in. One of them swung at him with a pipe, and another leaped onto him.
He quickly found himself becoming overwhelmed.